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Trudeau won’t double defence budget despite calls from Trump

By The Canadian Press

Tues., July 10, 2018

RIGA, LATVIA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will not double Canada’s defence budget, despite continued calls from U.S. President Donald Trump for all NATO countries to meet agreed-upon targets for defence spending.

Trudeau calls the military spending target — two per cent of GDP, agreed to by all NATO allies at the 2014 summit in Wales — “an easy shorthand” but a “limited tool” to measure a country’s commitment to the alliance.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, speaks to a Latvian soldier as he inspects the troops as he visits Adazi Military Base in Kadaga, Latvia, on Tuesday. Trudeau says he hopes the upcoming NATO summit will send a message of broad support for unity and solidarity but acknowledges that there will ‘no doubt be calls for greater investments in defence spending’ — a key issue that is badly dividing the military alliance. (Roman Koksarov / The Associated Press)

Canada did agree to the two per cent benchmark, but the Trudeau government’s spending projections show plans to reach only 1.4 per cent of GDP by 2024.

Trudeau says that while the two per cent target remains an “important metric” for commitment to NATO, he considers tangible and consistent resources and leadership, which Canada continues to demonstrate, to be more important.

He also notes that his Liberal government’s recent defence policy review committed Canada to an increase of 70 per cent in defence spending over the next 10 years.

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And when asked directly whether Canada plans to meet the two per cent target, Trudeau says there are no plans to double Canada’s defence budget.

Trudeau also says U.S. President Donald Trump will face anti-Russian solidarity around the NATO table on Wednesday.

Ahead of the 29-country military summit, Trump said Tuesday that Putin is less of a problem for him than under spending NATO allies, and the EU’s pending Brexit breakup with the U.K.

Trudeau says the NATO “table” remains united in its view that Russia is creating significant problems in the world.

He says the NATO alliance, built on a view of shared democratic values, is as relevant now as it was when it was created to counter the then Soviet Union, following the Second World War.

Trump has been railing against NATO allies for what he sees as weak defence spending.

The U.S. president is also threatening to disrupt the NATO summit by minimizing the negative influence of Russia.

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